Question

How do I use dashes in a sentence?
pls give examples

Answer 1

in grammar

Answer 2

Like i kind of dont get it,

Here an example

Although his name may be unfamiliar to the average moviegoer, Oscar Q13 Micheaux, an early African American screenwriter, director, and producer—has influenced many well-known members of today’s movie industry.

Why is the answer this -
Micheaux—an early African American screenwriter, director, and producer—

And not this-
Micheaux, an early African American screenwriter, director, and producer,

Answer 3

That part is from the Q13 part only

Answer 4

Is it because of commas are repeating too much?

Answer 5

ohhh i see that makes sense

I have one more question if you dont mind

Answer 6

Of course! Fire away, if you please :)

Answer 7

Can parentheses be used as a substitute for comma and dashes too like for example

I had a question and had to choose if parenthesis or dash

Q) He finally answered (after taking five minutes to think) that he did not understand the question.

would it be fine in this situation to use a dash or a comma?

Answer 8

liike why did it why did it have to be parentheses

Answer 9

From what I've seen in articles like this (and this may be where you got the example actually!) https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/parens.asp
It seems that it depends on the context and the meaning of the sentence. Namely, parentheses are used when the phrase contained within is not a part of the main sentence; the information is "nonessential" and does not flow grammatically, like with a complex sentence.
When additional information is presented in the form of a clause (it might be considered a compound or complex sentence), you would use commas to show that they are part of the same sentence. Parentheses (and dashes too, it seems) are more used in the case when someone is "interrupting" their own sentence, rather than adding to it in a more "fluid" way, I guess you could think of it?

Answer 10

So for instance, taking the example above, you could form a complex sentence to present the information using commas:
After taking five minutes to think, he finally answered that he did not understand the question.
In this case, the dependent clause flows smoothly into the independent clause; no interruption occurs, so parentheses or dashes are not required.
As far as I understand, parentheses and dashes are functionally interchangeable, but I've also read that dashes are more common in informal writing, whereas parentheses are generally accepted in formal settings like "academic papers and business writing"
https://writingcenter.uagc.edu/dashes

Answer 11

ok i see
thanks so much for the explanation and website, you can explain better than my teacher

Answer 12

Not a problem! I'll give your teacher some credit; they probably can't look things up on the internet like I do when they're trying to explain things in class lol
Glad I could help with the explanation and resource =D